Love Story (1970) * * * *

Directed by:  Arthur Hiller

Starring:  Ryan O'Neal, Ali MacGraw, John Marley, Ray Milland, Tommy Lee Jones

People may simply remember Love Story for "Love means never having to say you're sorry."    This line was even kidded in another Ryan O'Neal film, What's Up Doc? (1972).    Barbra Streisand says the line to O' Neal and O'Neal replies, "That's the dumbest thing I ever heard."  

Love Story, however, is not a dumb movie.   It is moving and perceptively sees Oliver (O'Neal) and Jenny (MacGraw) as interesting individuals with their own personalities.    They aren't two knuckleheads who fall in love because the story tells them to.    They are smart, witty, and not above using "god damn preppie" as a term of endearment.    We come to know them and their journey.  We  share in the sad, almost heart wrenching conclusion which everyone by now should know, unless that person has had no access to civilization in the last 45 years.

Love Story is a simple story told with passion and stirring performances.    O'Neal is Oliver Barrett IV, a Harvard student and son of a wealthy business tycoon whom he can't stand, mostly because of mutual misunderstandings about each other.     He meets Jenny, a working class Radcliffe student who works in the Harvard library.    They argue over a book, but then quickly date and become lovers.    Their different backgrounds creates a relationship that never becomes dull.     Star-crossed lovers become boring.   Oliver and Jenny are two distinct people courtesy of real, full performances by MacGraw and O'Neal.    I also enjoyed John Marley, Jenny's father who insists on being called Phil even by his daughter.    Ray Milland takes a character we think we have all figured out and creates complexity with it.    He loves his son and cares for him.    Their emotional distance weighs on him.    All you need to see is his eyes after each time they meet.      We see Oliver is right about him...and is also wrong.

Then, of course, comes the ending, which is so effective because we have come to care about Oliver and Jenny.    We wish they had more time together.     Life is like that too.